


Tick Tock

by minimumspeed



Category: Infinite Dendrogram
Genre: And I take my writing seriously, It's mostly pining and the shipping is very one-sided or implied, M/M, My plotting however..., Pining, Read it and you know what I mean, So this is a first in this fandom, Soulmate AU, Soulmate Clocks - Revenge Edition, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-21
Updated: 2019-10-21
Packaged: 2020-12-27 18:49:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,038
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21123509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/minimumspeed/pseuds/minimumspeed
Summary: Some things Rook just had to learn the hard way.





	Tick Tock

In literature, the concept of soulmates was a very well explored and - dare he say it? - almost stale topic. Sure, it was interesting to think about meeting your one and only, but giving yourself away to a fantasy was never the right way, was it? They were just trying to stay blind to the truth, anyway, with all their cutesy interpretations and alternative universes and everything. 

The truth was harsh. There wasn’t a nice warm feeling cursing through your body upon touching them, or a way to communicate way before even meeting in person just by writing on your body. It wasn’t even a goddamn first sentence printed on your skin! You only knew their identity when they were nice enough to die somewhere nearby. How romantic. 

Yes, in reality, you had numbers on your wrist, counting down the time until your soulmate died. The only way to know they really were your soulmate was by the clock running out exactly when they died. 

Frankly, it sucked.

The only upside to the whole thing was that Rook’s soulmate had a long life ahead of them, if he read his clock correctly. That was about it… 

He didn’t need a soulmate, rationally speaking. He wasn’t even sure he wanted one. A soulmate was simply a person you felt good with, wasn’t it? So in the end, it didn’t have to be the unfortunate soul bound to his very being. It could be any relationship that made him feel like he belonged. 

So when he got healed in Infinite Dendrogram by a boy a few years older than him and they locked eyes, he had the epiphany that yes, it didn’t have to be a soulmate that made you feel good about yourself. It could be a weird, kinda cute drive-by-player with a stunning smile. 

(And yes, he was aware of how much he sounded like a starstruck teenager. The avatar was very good-looking and he was just a human being on the cusp of puberty, so give him a break.)

The boy (_Ray_ he had said and oh, how that fit him) proved to be a total sweetheart. They talked a bit, and he even gave him a catalogue to find a job. There were worse people to crush on, objectively speaking. Ray was a fine person and he hoped they’d cross each other’s paths again. Meanwhile, he’d busy himself with finding a job suiting him, and then they could travel the world together. It’d be great!

Well, needless to say, he died a bit inside when the result came up with “Pimp”. He’d need to play innocent were they to meet again. “I guess it's a monster taming job, Ray. Nothing like a real-life Pimp, Ray.” Yeah, he’d be able to pull it off. There was still a great future ahead of them. 

At the thought, his eyes traveled down to his wrist. Just below the crest, his clock kept ticking down. Even in Dendro, it was ever-present. The time it showed was tripled, just as the experienced time here. The prophecy of the death of a person who was bound to him. Probably searching, probably waiting. Hoping to find him.

A pang of guilt struck him and he looked away, shaking his head. No, he was not going to do this. He had no obligations to a person he probably didn’t even know yet and probably never would. His parents hadn’t known either and they’d been just fine. There was no point to even try, logically speaking. 

“But your emotional side would still like to try it, wouldn’t it?” 

Rook jumped in his skin, whipping around to look at a curious Babi. _God, I forgot you can do that._  
“You just looked so intense,” she apologized, giving him a cheerful smile. “It’s not good to stay in your head!”  
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to do that.” Rook rubbed at his wrist, carefully scratching over the black ink. “It’s just… So silly…”  
“That you think Ray is cute?”

Rook’s head shot back up and he felt all his blood rush to his brain as he began to defend himself with frantic gestures: “What!? Babi! No-! It’s not-! I mean how- I-” In the end, he just deflated and shielded his face with a hand. “You could read that, too?”  
“Oh, definitely!”

He sighed, lowering his hand. “But it’s not just that, Babi. It’s… In the real world, we don’t find our soulmates until they die right in front of us. It’s just pathetic to wish to find them. There’s just no proof until they’re dead, so what’s the point?”  
Slender arms circled around his middle and a heavy head came to rest on his shoulder, facing away from him. Given that they were still sitting on the bench of the adventurer’s guild, it must’ve been a very uncomfortable position for her. She didn’t complain.

“There there.” She patted his hip. “You’re afraid of being wrong? That’s ok. It’s a given with emotions. But is it really worth it to stop being happy, just so that you can keep being right?”  
A dry chuckle escaped his throat. “But it’s hard.”  
“All the good things are.”

They grew silent and let the pleasant chatter from the other groups wash over them. In here, it was so easy to forget the troubles of real life. He could get used to this, one day. Right now, though, there was a question burning in his throat. “Babi?”  
“Hmm?”  
“What would you do? Just not worry about your soulmate? Or chase them, even if you’d never be sure?”  
“Maah, that’s tough… I guess… I’d do the thing that would make the most fun?”  
Now that was bound to startle a laugh out of him. “That’s such a Babi-answer. What will happen if I don’t know the most fun way?”  
“Well, you try one... and if it’s no fun, you just stop and take another. Sim~ple~”  
A smile settled on Rook’s face and he softly stroked his wrist.  
“Just don’t be all gloomy again, promise?,” Babi teasingly added.  
“I’ll try.”

In the end, trying was all he could do in either case. One thing was for certain: It would take a long time for him to really know what he really wanted out of life. Perhaps he could ask Ray about his opinion about soulmates were they to meet again? You never know what three additional years could add to your outlook on life….

“Rooooook?”  
“Yes, Babi?”  
“I did do well here, didn’t I?”  
"Yes, you did." _‘What do you want?’_  
_‘Fooooooood!’_  
Rook sighed and fought the grin coming onto his face. While the conversation didn’t magically resolve all his problems, it did cheer him up quite a bit and gave him perspective. So much so that whatever weird urges she had, he was willing to indulge them without a second th-  
"YAAAAY!"

Before he could even finish his thought, she was pulling him to his feet and dragging him into the lively streets. Although he had only spent a whole day in Dendro, he’d quickly learned that the people in the capital were always busy. Even now, in the dead of the night, masters and tians alike were bumbling outside, busying themselves with their little private missions. With all the worries the people had, it was still nice to see them so… alive. 

He’d made the right decision to choose Altar that day. Perhaps he could help them stay that way.

Babi in front of him was babbling about a sweets shop she’d seen when they went to the guild, with so many pastries and short cakes she’d be rolling around for days, and oh, how she hoped there would be hot sauce because what kind of service didn’t have hot sauce at hand? 

It was very soothing to listen to her Stream of Consciousness, so much so that when it started, he didn’t even notice right away. A tingling, right where Babi held his wrist. Right where his watch was…  
But the tingling didn’t stay that way. It grew into a sting, a burn. Sharp enough that it finally registered in his brain as pain. 

It didn’t feel _right._

“Babi, hold on a second!”  
As she stopped in the middle of the street, somewhere far away from the guild and basically abandoned, he ripped his hand from her loosened grip and stared at the wrist. The pain was almost unbearably by now, and he was sweating profusely. It hurt, almost as if a dog had bitten into it and refused to let go. 

But that wasn’t what put the look of absolute terror on his face in that moment. The horrible feeling of flesh tearing wasn’t the only thing that made him scream like he was being eaten alive. No, even the pain was miniscule to the horrible realization that the time of his clock was running out quicker than anything he’d ever seen or read about. The huge amount of years printed on his wrist got burned into hours, into minutes, into mere seconds right before his eyes. And then….

Then the time stopped at zero. 

The feeling of pure nothingness that followed was even worse than the mind consuming pain from before. There was no remnant of the pain, not even a slight tingling left from the burn. Just his body, kneeling in the street. His head, directed at his wrist. His eyes, staring at the clock that just didn’t hurt, that didn’t tick down anymore. Just him and this weird noise that won’t stop echoing through the empty side street. 

“It’s cruel that a clock doesn’t fade upon the soulmates death,” his mother tells him, stroking his hair as he sat on her lap, listening intently. “It’s a painful reminder that they aren’t here anymore.”  
“And why doesn’t it fade away?” His voice sounded weird to his own ears.  
His mother’s eyes, warm as always, shine as she softly shakes her head, her hair falling in soft waves. “Oh Lucius, we don’t know that yet. Just as we don’t know why we even have soulmates.”  
He leans his tiny hands on her thigh, getting up into her face, all wide eyed and curious. “Science doesn’t answer that, too?”

_Wait a second-_

“I’m afraid it doesn’t. There are still so many things out there that need to be discovered.”  
“Just like your soulmate, aren’t they?”  
That would always make her smile. “Yes, they are. Alive and well. And yours is as well. Isn’t that nice?”

_That’s not-_

“Yeah!”  
“The clocks remain, and so does the pain. However, don’t go underestimating them! You got that?”  
“Yes, mother!”

_Wait-!_

“It’s ok,” a voice was mumbling in his ear as hands carded through his hair, “You’re with me, you’re safe, Lucius. You’re ok. It’s ok. You’re with me-”  
The words kept repeating like a mantra. Always the same, steady voice, joined by certain, warm hands in his hair. His face was pressed into something warm, and one of his hand was gripping the other so tightly that both were going numb. He swallowed and was surprised by the soreness accompanying the movement. 

Awareness slowly crept back into his mind as the words really began to sink in.  
His name was Lucius.  
He was here, in an almost empty street.  
Babi was with him.  
He was ok. He wasn’t dead, nor wounded physically. 

The only thing wrong with the mantra was the “It’s ok.”

“Please tell me that was a nightmare, Babi,” he croaked, his voice hoarse from (his best guess at that point) screaming caused by night terrors. It had to be. This was unprecedented. The time on the clock was binding - it didn’t speed up nor slow down! It couldn’t just… go to zero in mere seconds.  
He lifted his head from her chest to search her face for any indication that he was right. However, Babi’s soft yet grim eyes told the whole story. Instead of answering verbally, she wiped over his eyes once (they were wet, he realized only then. Wet and hot) and gently pressed his head back into her body.  
“No, please!” He shook his head, already feeling more tears coming on. “That can’t be true… No. Not now, not now…. Please! This has to be a sick joke!”

His whole body was shaking in Babi’s arms. The hand clinging to his clock let go to cling to Babi’s back, the other hanging limply between them. He didn’t want to use the body part that was stricken with this god-forsaken clock. He couldn’t even bring himself to look at it anymore. 

“First my parents, and now my soulmate too? Why?! Why does everyone have to leave me?!” 

Sitting in the dirt, clinging to his embryo, contemplating his life in the middle of a street with only few people passing and shooting odd looks at the pair was Lucius Holmes, 15 years old, mourning the loss of three people in his life: Two people who’d raised him, and one person who he didn’t even know if he wanted or not yet. 

Life was a cruel mistress. 

Several hours later, he logged out of the system to go take care of his needs. He wasn’t too pumped about anything at this point, feeling exhausted and ready to sleep for days on end. Even though he didn’t cry in the real world, he felt as if he might as well have. 

_“This virtual reality really is convincing,”_ he thought as he rubbed his sore-not-sore eyes.

Babi had done her best at calming him down, cradling him in her arms for the better part of the night and creating mantra after mantra until he was stable enough to not break into tears as soon as she changed her words. 

Long story short: The next time he would be back in Dendro, she’d be in for a treat. Whatever she wanted, no questions asked. He owed her big time. 

He took a long shower, scrubbing his body with his eyes closed. He didn’t want to accidentally catch a glimpse of his finished clock. It still hurt, and the last time he saw it in Dendro, he’d gone to the next bathroom and worked on the skin until it was raw and a bleeding debuff appeared in his status. It didn’t change the zeroes, and it certainly didn’t do anything to heighten his mood. 

_‘Guess now is the time to pull out the old mourning-books from the library.’_ There were some on normal mourning, and some on mourning caused by your soulmate’s demise. Some of them were slightly older than him, all kinds of books ranging from picture to books for young adults his parents had gotten when he wasn’t born yet. It wasn’t uncommon for a child to be born with a clock with little time. Some children just weren’t lucky, despite the survival rate being higher than ever. 

_‘And apparently, not even the clock itself is an absolute certainty of survival,’_ he thought bitterly as he went to the kitchen to prepare a quick meal. Seriously, he’d never even heard of anything speeding up the clock. Why would he be the first case in so many years of news reports to lose his soulmate early? That would just be too cruel. 

Too caught up in his thoughts, he didn’t even notice the pot of water overflowing until the sharp hiss alerted him. Cursing, he instinctively reached for the pot to pull it away, but as he jerked it to a different place he accidentally spilt some on his hand. 

It felt cold until it didn't, pain blooming from the red and already slightly blistering skin. Wasting no time, he held it under cold water and continued even as all feeling left his hand. And his wrist. And... suddenly, the pain wasn't the most important thing on his mind, as there was a perfectly ticking clock on his wrist, showing just as much time as it was supposed to show. 

Yes, it was there, and Lucius was positive he was going crazy. It was on zero in Dendro. He was sure. It had stayed that way for several hours. There was no way that a dead man was suddenly alive after so much time having passed. A lot of things weren't making any sense! And yet… even though nothing made sense and he should doubt it all, he could feel his cheeks cramping up from smiling so hard!

He'd find out what happened, but in the meantime, he'd be happy that the person on the other end wasn't dead. Oh, and he'd go to the hospital, too. Yeah. 

(On an unrelated note: The doctor said that he never had a patient with such a nasty burn that was so positively gleaming. Was this supposed to be a compliment or was he discreetly asking him if he was on drugs?)

As it turned out, some hours of hospital and research later, it was quite a well known gimmick of Dendro. There were several threads and blogs dedicated to the online-death of your destined, as well as boards for bad players who wanted to get better so that their soulmate didn't have to watch their clock go down as often. 

Lucius was fighting a serious headache by the time his research was complete. He spent _several hours mourning_ a stupid gimmick he refused to call anything else but a glitch caused by what he assumed was a noob getting killed? Because the VR was made just a bit too real? You've got to be kidding him!

Well, on the plus side: people whose soulmates died a lot said it hurt less with each time, so there's that. 

Anyway, he felt dumb and there was also an issue with some player killer killing mostly masters wanting to leave the city. He would be stuck for quite some time in the capital. 

Well, he could work some on his skills, becoming the best pimp of them all.

Yeah...

"What has my life become?" He groaned as he fluffed up his hair in a fit of frustration. At least he'd see Ray again if there was a blockage. He said he'd stay for a bit, didn't he?

**Author's Note:**

> You all read the tags, you all are probably not surprised just who the mysterious soulmate might end up being. Spoiler: It's not Hugo. (So sad indeed)
> 
> However, a short afterword: Soulmates are usually within a certain age-range. That means children only get paired with children of similar age. Not the same, but similar. Just in case my intentions weren't clear enough. 
> 
> Please give a special thanks to [Lawlya](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lawl_ya/pseuds/Lawl_ya), who is responsible for making me read Dendro. Also, she made me realize that Dendro on AO3 isn't a thing yet and I could start the fandom! 
> 
> (That is to say, it wasn't her that said "If I start the fandom, I wanna start it off with something stupid". That one's on me.)
> 
> Have fun! There's probably more to come? I guess?


End file.
